HISTORY: Mutiny on Pitcairn Island

WHAT: Pitcairn Island lies in the South Pacific Ocean. The middle of nowhere. East-Southeast of Tahiti... some 1,400 plus miles. It was settled in 1790 by mutineers of H.M.S. Bounty, and decedents of the original mutineers still live there today: 48 of them.

WHY: Because this is the real deal SURVIVER or LOST - this island is only 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles)... for comparison, little Catalina Island off the coast of California is 42 times the size ...

Now imagine living in the middle of the vast South Pacific. For over two hundred years, these people have descended from the original 9 mutineers, 12 Tahitian woman and 6 Tahitian men. Fletcher Christian was the leader of the mutineers, and many people living there share his name - as well as their relocated kin on Norfolk Island, some 3800 miles away. To give you an idea about that distance, you could just about get from Pitcairn Island to California. Hawaii and Antarctica would both be closer than where these folks were re-located. On Pitcairn Island, they might see one or two ships pass by a year.

If you're thinking about visiting Pitcairn Island, think again. No airport exists, so you have to fly to Tahiti, then fly to another island, then travel by boat another 30 hours.

The entire history is really intriguing, and I suggest reading the true stories gathered at the Pitcairn Island website. What's really fascinating is the difficulties they had in the first few years: while Hollywood glamorized the story, the facts remain that only one Mutineer survived being killed by the Tahitians that came to the island with them. Apparently, the Tahitian men got pissed when one of the Mutineer's wife died and he decided to take the Tahitian man's wife!

For more information, check out their website at http://www.lareau.org/pitc.html ... and make sure to watch Mutiny On The Bounty again - not the Marlon Brando version, but the original - and see how historically inaccurate but entertaining it is!

/sms